Client device, method and computer program for playing media content

ABSTRACT

Client device for playing media content, comprising: a connection interface for establishing a connection with a server and for receiving a media content from the server via the connection; a detector for detecting, whether the media content is to be continued beyond a termination of the connection with the server, and for providing a detection result in case it is determined that the media content is to be continued beyond a determination of the connection with the server; and a processor for taking an action to continue the media content beyond a termination of the connection with the server.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/662,016, filed Oct. 26, 2012, which claims priority to U.S. PatentApplication No. 61/552,949 filed Oct. 28, 2011, and also claims priorityto European Patent Application No. 12190037.7 filed Oct. 25, 2012.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a playback of media content such asaudio, video or other multimedia content and, particularly, to theplayback of media content in the context of a distributed playbackscenario.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Distributed playback enables the synchronized presentation andinteractive control of ultimedia content by multiple devices over arelatively low-band width network. The bandwidth of the network isconsidered to be relatively low if it is insufficient for transmittingthe entire amount of uncompressed data that shall ultimately bepresented at various terminals. While the network bandwidth may well besufficient for transmitting the multimedia content in a compressedformat, it may not be sufficient for transmitting the multimedia contentin an uncompressed format such as data in a video interface standard asDVI.

An example use case may be found in automotive industry front andrear-seat entertainment units, where each independently functioning unitis required to simultaneously present the same media content, such as aDVD video disk inserted into a single device. For economical reasons, itis desirable to make use of an existing network infrastructure, ratherthan dedicated high band width equipment, cables, etc., required for thetransmission of audio and video signals to and from each unit,especially when the audio and video signals are provided in a “raw”format.

In the field of infotainment and/or entertainment units, especially forthe automotive industry, the distribution of video stream to the variousvideo consumers within the vehicle has seen an increased interest fromentertainment unit manufacturers and car manufacturers. Originalequipment manufacturers (OEMs) started to ask for separation between thevideo source and the video consumer(s) due to requirements forflexibility, network transparency and standardization, while avoidingextensive and proprietary wirings.

The research and development challenges imposed on the suppliers areconsiderable, as the questions to be solved include those regarding aguaranteed bandwidth, low latencies, distributed A/V synchronization,block synchronization and compensation of differing travelling times, aswell as a frame-synchronous presentation on several displays.

A system for implementing such a distributed playback architecture isdescribed in PCT/EP 2011/064218, which is incorporated herein byreference.

The distributed playback, however, is not only limited to rear- orfront-seat entertainment systems rigidly integrated within car seats oraircraft seats, but a distributed playback is additionally useful in ascenario, in which the rear-seat entertainment devices are mobiledevices such as tablet computers which are able to connect to adistributed playback server within, for example, a car or an aircraft.Then, the distribution channel between the distributed playback serverand the individual distributed playback clients will not be a local areanetwork cable, but will be a local area network wireless channel.

Additionally, it is to be outlined that the distributed playbackarchitecture does not necessarily have to be implemented in a car, butalso can be implemented in any kind of environment (e.g. in a house orroom or in-flight, i.e., in a plane or aircraft such as a passengeraircraft), where there is a distributed playback server and where thereare one or several distributed playback client devices e.g. located inseats or the car, bus or aircraft, which can communicate with thedistributed playback server in order to replay content and/or toexchange commands or user input information etc. A distributed playbackarchitecture has been realized by the company Cinemo, and aCinemo-enabled client can connect to a Cinemo-enabled server as soon asthe communication channel between the client and the server is so that auseful connection between both devices is possible with respect to acertain selected or pre-negotiated communication format.

The disadvantage of this concept is that the connection between theclient and the server will always depend on, for example, a wirelesscommunication channel or a wired communication channel. In the case of awired communication channel, a communication cable between the clientdevice and the server device has to be plugged in, i.e., correctlyinstalled. Irrespective of whether there is a wireless channel or awired channel, the region of movement away from the server is limitedand, on the other hand, there are typical media pieces which need aconsiderable time to be replayed such as movies or extended playlists.The user may wish to move away from the distributed playback serverproviding the media content such as the movie, and the user mayadditionally wish to watch, for example, the end of the movie in adifferent place where, for example, a connection to the distributedplayback server is not possible anymore for certain reasons.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is, therefore, an object to allow an extended media replaypossibility for the user.

In an embodiment, this object is achieved by a client device for playingmedia content, comprising: a connection interface for establishing aconnection with a server and for receiving a media content from theserver via the connection; a detector for detecting, whether the mediacontent is to be continued beyond a termination of the connection withthe server, and providing a detection result in case it is determinedthat the media content is to be continued beyond a determination of theconnection with the server; and a processor for taking an action tocontinue the media content beyond a termination of the connection withthe server.

In a further embodiment, this object is achieved by a method ofoperating a client device for playing media content, the client devicecomprising a connection interface, a detector, and a processor,comprising: establishing, by the connection interface, a connection witha server and receiving a media content from the server via theconnection; detecting, by the detector, whether the media content is tobe continued beyond a termination of the connection with the server, andproviding a detection result in case it is determined that the mediacontent is to be continued beyond a determination of the connection withthe server; and taking an action, by the processor, to continue themedia content beyond a termination of the connection with the server.

In a further embodiment, this object is achieved by a client device forplaying media content comprising a connection interface for establishinga connection with a server and for receiving a media content from theserver via the connection; a user interface having a continue playinginput facility; and a processor for receiving an indication whether theuser has actuated the continue playing facility and for taking an actionto continue the media content beyond the termination of the connectionwith the server.

In a further embodiment, this object is achieved by a method ofoperating a client device for playing media content, comprising:establishing a connection with a server and receiving a media contentfrom the server via the connection; receiving an indication that theuser has actuated a continue playing facility made available over a userinput interface; and taking an action to continue the media contentbeyond a termination of the connection with the server.

In a further embodiment, this object is achieved by a computer programimplementing any method of operating a client device as outlined above.

The present invention is based on the finding that the user comfort, theuser acceptance and, particularly, the replay time can be extended evenbeyond the time, where the initial connection between the server and theclient exists, when the client device additionally comprises a processorfor receiving an indication that the user has actuated a continueplaying facility on a client device user interface. Additionally, theprocessor then takes an action to continue the media content beyond atermination of the connection with the server.

Such action can comprise several different actions depending on thespecific use case. One action is, for example, that the client downloadsthe content from the server and more particularly, from the time of acontinue playing indication or from a time instant which is close to thetime of a continue playing indication and the content is downloaded fromthe server until the end of the content. When, for example, a userpresses a continue playing button on a user interface of the clientdevice at a certain time, then the media content from this certain timeto the end of the media content such as a movie is downloaded to theclient device for later use by the user of the client device.

For reasons like DRM (Digital Rights Management), or for other reasons,the server can also submit additional rules to the client, e.g. that theclient can only playback the downloaded media content once or within acertain time limitation.

Alternatively or additionally, the remaining content and a variablenumber of additional items such as one or more items of a predefinedsequence of items such as a playlist can be downloaded in response to acontinue playing indication.

Additionally, when the media content is structured as a playlist, thenthe remaining items of the playlist can be downloaded from the server inresponse to a continue playing indication.

Additionally, when the media content is an Internet stream such asYouTube, then the client device receives, from the server device, anindication of the specifically replayed Internet stream and then theclient device starts a connection to this Internet stream by itself.Preferably, the client device jumps into the Internet stream at theposition, where the continue playing indication was received. To thisend, the client device additionally receives from the server device, onrequest or automatically an indication, where in the replayed stream theclient device or server device was, when the continue playing indicationwas received by the client device or when an information on the continueplaying indication sent out from the client device to the server devicewas received by the server device.

A further action taken by the client device in response to the continueplaying indication may comprise the search for the content in theclient's own database for playback and resuming playback at theposition, when the continue playing indication was received by theclient device. A further action may comprise the setting of a bookmarkin a stream and the usage of the bookmark for replaying the stream froma different source. Further actions may be taken in order to make surethat the media content is continued by the client device beyond atermination of the connection with the server.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are subsequentlydescribed with respect to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a distributed playback scenario;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for illustrating a sequence of steps taken by thedistributed playback client before a termination of the connection withthe distributed playback server;

FIG. 3 illustrates a selection of action to continue the content inreply to a continue playing indication;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of steps taken by the client device after theconnection between the client and the server has been terminated;

FIG. 5 illustrates a further embodiment of the client device inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart for explaining a functionality of thedetector of FIG. 5 in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 7 illustrates a functionality of the detector of FIG. 5 inaccordance with a further embodiment;

FIG. 8a illustrates a functionality of the client device in which aremote or internal database is used;

FIG. 8b illustrates a schematic diagram of such a remote/internaldatabase; and

FIG. 9 illustrates a further functionality of the client device inaccordance with a further embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates a distributed playback scenario. There exist adistributed playback server 10 and several distributed playback clients,where a specific distributed playback client is indicated at 12. Thedistributed playback server 10 is connected to the distributed playbackclient via a connection 14. Other connections to other distributedplayback clients which are not shown in FIG. 1 are indicated byreference numeral 16. The distributed playback client comprises aconnection interface 20 a for establishing a connection with thedistributed playback server 10 and for receiving a media content fromthe server 10. Additionally, the client device comprises a user inputinterface having a continue playing input facility such as a continueplaying button 20 b. The button 20 b or, alternatively, the user inputinterface having this continue playing facility is operatively connectedto a processor 20 c. The processor 20 c is configured for receiving anindication that the user has actuated the continue playing functionalitysuch as the continue playing button 20 b, and for taking an action tocontinue the media content beyond a termination of the connection 14with the server 10. Specifically, as indicated in the box at the upperright of FIG. 1, FIG. 2 illustrates a sequence of steps, before theconnection between the client and the server is terminated and FIG. 3illustrates a sequence of steps, after the connection between the clientand the server has been terminated.

In a step 30 in FIG. 2, a connection such as a wireless connectionbetween the server and the client of FIG. 1 is established. Then, theserver streams 32 content from the server to the client. Then, theclient device receives an indication that the user of the client devicehas instructed continue playing as illustrated at 34 in FIG. 2. Inresponse to the reception of the indication, the client device takesaction to continue the content beyond the connection termination asindicated at 36. Then, the connection with the server is terminated assoon as the action is completed as indicated at 38. This termination ofthe connection can be done “automatically” as it occurs, when the usermoves away to far from a server in the presence of a wireless channel.Alternatively, the client can actively terminate the connection with theserver which is the preferred procedure, since the client then has fullcontrol over the connection and the client knows best, whether theaction taken in step 36 is completed or not yet completed.

FIG. 3 illustrates several actions to continue the content such asdownloading the content from the server, i.e., from the time of acontinue playing indication until the end of the content such as the endof a movie.

Alternatively, the remaining content and the variable number ofadditional items such as one or more items of a predefined sequence ofitems are downloaded to the client's storage.

Again, alternatively or additionally, a remaining playlist can bedownloaded and, particularly, the items indicated by the remainingplaylist.

An alternative procedure is that a connection to an Internet stream suchas YouTube is started by the client device from the position in thestream, where the continue playing indication was received. In thiscontext, the action additionally comprises that the client devicerequests from the server device an identification of the Internet streamsuch as the URL and, additionally, an identification of the point intime, at which the playback should be resumed subsequent to atermination of the connection between the client and the server.

An alternative action may comprise the search of the content in theclient's own database for playback and to resume playback at theposition when the continue playing indication was received. In thiscontext, the action additionally comprises a client's request to theserver to identify the actually replayed media content so that theclient knows for which media item it has to search in its own database.

A further action may be the setting of a bookmark in a media stream andthe usage of the bookmark for replaying from a different source or fromthe same source, but with a different connection.

The client device may comprise a continue playing facility as a specificbutton, which can be a hard button or a soft button of a touch-sensitivedisplay. A client downloads the remaining part of the stream from thedistributed playback server. The client can then stop the connectionsuch as by leaving, for example, a car or aircraft and the wirelessconnection is terminated when the client has moved far away from the caror aircraft. Then a useful wireless connection to the server in the caris not possible anymore. Due to the continue playing functionality,however, the user can continue to watch or listen to the media file.

An option is continue playing “+1”, . . . “+2”, etc. and “finish playingplaylist”. This feature would then download also some or all additionalfiles. Optionally, the user does not have different buttons, but thecontinue playing functionality is pre-configured to one of the aboveoptions.

Optionally, as soon as the user plays something else not from thedownloaded playlist anymore, this “copied” playlist will disappear,i.e., will be deleted. This may be particularly useful due to copyrightowner issues that otherwise may come up.

If the content comes from, for example, an Internet stream such asYouTube, and the client disconnects from the server, the client willitself try to open an Internet connection to the same clip. Anotheroption would be that as soon as the client will lose the connection,there will appear a button “continue playing” and then the client willtry to continue to play the Internet stream or, if it was a fileplayback before, tries to find the same file in its own media managementdatabase and then will continue to play.

A further option is that this button will only appear, if the same filehas been found, or in case of an Internet connection, if the client isonline itself.

Another option would be that the client will automatically alwayscontinue to play and optionally informs the user that is has beendetached. Optionally, there is a database online, which could help theuser to find the right connection. When the user is, for example,watching a DVB stream channel such as BBC, and now the user isdisconnected, the database can find a web-stream also having the samechannel, i.e., the BBC channel.

In implementations, continue playing can either be proactive orreactive. In the first case, the user indicates in advance that hewishes to continue playback at some future time or location. In thesecond case, an optional feature is that no warning is given, but thatthe processor was restarted after being switched off or lost connectionor some other interruption. The played content can be local content orcontent from a locally connected device. Additionally, the content canbe Internet content which is not registered with any specific mediaserver but which is generally available such as from YouTube and whichis just a plain URL. The content can additionally be remote content overHTTP from a specific distributed media server running on anothermachine.

The continue playing can be optionally done in several ways. A bookmarkcan be stored with some kind of file identifier and this requires thatthe content still exists somewhere, when the user wishes to continue theplayback. The identifier must be valid across multiple instances of adistributed media server if that is where the content is located. Thebookmark can be stored both proactively or reactively. A further optionis that the entire content is downloaded in advance which can be doneproactively.

For replaying local content, a bookmark can be sufficient.

For replaying Internet content, a bookmark or a download can be chosen,depending on if the location, one wishes to continue playing will havean Internet connection.

In case of remote content from a distributed media server, either abookmark or a download can be chosen, depending on if the location onewishes to continue playing will have a dedicated distributed playbackserver running with the same content.

In certain situations, the user will know if the location he wishes tocontinue playing will have physical access to the same content. In thiscase the user should probably choose himself an option with localcontent or an option with Internet content. In this case, the continueplaying feature requires two button functionalities such as one buttonfor “bookmark” and a further button for “download”. Depending on aplayback configuration, additional features related to thisfunctionality can be greyed out, i.e., when a download of a localcontent, for example, is not possible.

A further option is that, if the distributed playback functionality isshutdown or a connection is lost, then a bookmark is saved whenpossible. This will enable the continue playing feature to workreactively, when the distributed playback functionality is re-startedand the content is still available.

FIG. 4 illustrates a sequence of steps of a preferred embodiment, whichoccurs, after the client has terminated the connection.

In a step 40, the client device establishes a connection to a sourcedifferent from the distributed playback server 10. This source can bethe Internet or can be a storage device in the distributed playbackclient such as a hard disk drive or a semiconductor storage.Alternatively, the source different from the original server can be afurther distributed playback server available in the location where theuser has moved subsequent to terminating the connection in step 38.

In step 42, the user uses a bookmark to start the content or start the“downloaded” content from the bookmark location in the media file. Then,in step 44, the content is replayed until the content is fully replayedor, for example, the movie is finished or the playlist is fully played.Then, in step 46, the content can be deleted from the client, whencontent has been downloaded to the client. When data associated tocontents are just playlists, the playlists are deleted in order toaddress some kind of copyright or other issues related to actuallydownloading content contrary to only streaming but not locally savingcontent.

FIG. 5 illustrates a further embodiment of the client device comprisingthe connection interface 20 a for establishing a connection with aserver (not shown) and for receiving a media content from the server viathe connection. Furthermore, FIG. 5 illustrates a processor for takingan action to continue the media content beyond a termination of theconnection with the server indicated with 20 c similar to FIG. 1.

Additionally, the client device in FIG. 5 comprises a detector 50 fordetecting, whether the media content is to be continued beyond atermination of the connection with the server, where the detector isfurthermore configured to provide a detection result to the processor 20c, when it is detected by the detector that the media content is to becontinued beyond the termination of the connection with the server.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the detector 50 may comprise a user interfaceschematically illustrated in FIG. 1 as the continue playing button 20 b.Therefore, in other words, the detector 50 may comprise a user inputinterface having a continue playing input facility such as the continueplaying button.

Furthermore, the detector 50 is configured to provide the detectionresult, when the user has activated the continuing playing inputfacility.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, this functionality is so that the detector 50activates a user input interface in response to a certain event or allthe time, where this user input interface is related to a continueplaying facility or, in other words, comprises a display or any otherinput facility for receiving a continue playing input from the user.

Then, in step 71, it is detected by the detector 50, whether the userhas actuated the continue playing facility. In other words, the detectordetects, whether there is an indication that the user has actuallyactuated the continue playing input facility.

Then, in step 72, the detector activates the processor 20 c to take theaction in response to a detection result. In other words, the detectoroutputs the detection result and the processor 20 c receives thedetection result and starts the action to continue the media contentbeyond a termination of the connection with the server in response to areception of the detection result.

In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the detectorprovides the detection result by detecting different events. In a step60 illustrated in FIG. 6, the detector monitors the connection via theconnection interface 20 a or, alternatively or additionally monitors alocation of the client device. This location of the client device can bea geographic location of the client device, but can also be any otherkind of location of the client device such as a certain distance arounda server e.g. in a car or aircraft.

In step 61, the detector determines, whether the connection quality viathe connection interface is reduced by a predetermined amount or is at alower threshold. Therefore, the detector determines, by monitoring theconnection quality such as by monitoring RSSI values or any other, forexample wireless signal connection parameters, whether it can beexpected that the connection quality is soon terminated. This is astrong indication that the client device is moved farther and fartheraway from the server.

This monitoring can be performed either by monitoring, whether thequality becomes worse by a predetermined amount such as 3 or 6 dB orthis can be alternatively determined by monitoring, whether theconnection quality exemplarily represented by a certain (absolute) RSSIvalue approaches a lower threshold such as a lower threshold RSSI value,which is determined, for example empirically.

This connection threshold is set in such a way that it can be assumed,when normal movement speeds away from the server are considered, thatthe connection quality to the server will remain for some remaining timeso that the client device has a good chance to successfully retrieve therest of the media content from the server. However, when the thresholdis more close to the absolute connection threshold quality, then theclient device does not have the chance anymore to download the rest ofthe media content from the server via the connection, but the clientdevice then has to look for other alternatives to obtain the content as,for example, exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 3.

Then, in step 62, the detector outputs its detection result and,automatically, the processor is instructed to take the action withoutany user activity. In this embodiment, it is additionally preferred thatthe processor then takes the action to obtain the rest of the mediacontent and, as soon as the processor has received the rest of the mediacontent or has established a different source or a connection to thesame source via a different connection standard, the processor thenactivates a continue playing button on the display of the client deviceor outputs a certain acoustical signal by the client device so that theuser knows that everything is ready for continue playing, although theconnection to the initial server is terminated. Therefore, the user canonly see and activate the continue playing facility, when the mediacontent is available. Additionally, in a further embodiment, theprocessor can notify the user via a certain output interface such as adisplay interface that the connection to the initial server is detached.This user information can be performed either when a successful continueplaying alternative has been found or irrespective of whether thisalternative has been found, in any case, when the connection to theserver is broken or detached.

FIG. 8a illustrates a further functionality of the client device. Instep 80, the connection interface 20 a is configured to keeping aconnection to a source via a certain connection standard which can, forexample, be a DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) connection or any otherbroadcast or other connection. The processor is configured, asillustrated in step 81, to access a database, in response to a detectionresult from the detector 50. This database can be an internal orexternal/remote database and this database is in a certain embodiment,illustrated in FIG. 8b . The processor 20 c is configured to access thisdatabase to obtain an address for the same source providing the contentvia a different standard. This different connection standard can, forexample, be a webstream or Internet standard such as a packet-basedstreaming or any other packet-based transmission standard.

In step 82, the processor is then configured to activate the connectionto the same source via the different connection standard using theaddress retrieved from the database.

The database illustrated in FIG. 8b illustrates, in an association toeach other, source IDs for media content sources such a televisionchannels indicates as “BBC, CNN, ARD”. However, any other source-IDs forany other broadcast content such as radio programs or any other sourcescan be provided. Since the television channels transmit via the DVBstandard, the first standard indication is “DVB”. For broadcast audiochannels, the standard can be DAB.

Then, in the address column for the first standard, an indication thatthis is a broadcast channel is indicated, which means that this is abroadcast connection rather than a point-to-point connection.

Then, in the second standard column, it is outlined for the threetelevision channels that the second standard is an Internet standard andin the address column for the second standard, the URL (Uniform ResourceLocator) for the television programs are indicated. Typically, alltelevision programs or audio programs also provide a webstream and theURL of the server providing this webstream can then be used by theprocessor 20 c for activated a connection as illustrated in step 82.

FIG. 9 illustrates a further functionality of a client device inaccordance with another embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 9, theprocessor 20 c is configured for performing replaying a media content,when the connection to the server is still active, where this replayingis performed in synchrony with at least one other client device underthe control of the remote server. Hence, the processor is configured forperforming, for example, the Cinemo distributed playbackarchitecture/functionality for replaying the media content, when thestraightforward normal connection to the Cinemo server is active.

However, when the user is, for example, leaving the car or aircraft,then the processor 20 c is configured to take the action to continue themedia content beyond termination of the connection in response to adetection result/a user input as indicated by 91. Then, subsequent tothe termination of the connection, and provided that the processor wassuccessful in obtaining the media content rest or providing anothersource for the rest of the media content, step 92 is performed. In step92, however, the client device is configured for replaying the rest ofthe media content autonomously without any external control and,therefore, also without any synchrony with at least one other clientdevice. Therefore, the client device is configured for performing twodifferent replaying facilities, wherein the first replaying facility isa synchronous replaying facility under the control of the remote serveras illustrated in 90 and the second replaying facility is an autonomousstraightforward replaying facility without any control of an externalserver with respect to a synchronization with other client devices.

The client device illustrated in FIG. 5 may further comprise a secondconnection interface 51 which is a large distance wireless communicationinterface configured for establishing connection to the Internet, forexample, via a cellular telephone network. On the other hand, however,the connection interface 20 a may then be implemented as a smalldistance wireless connection interface such as a Bluetooth or WLANconnection interface.

Furthermore, the processor 20 c may be configured to activate, as theaction to continue the media content, the large distance wirelessconnection interface 51 in response to the detection result or theindication that the user intends to have a continue playingfunctionality and to connect to a remote server associated with a URLand to download a remaining portion of a media content or to stream aremaining portion of the media content using a position informationdetermined together with the URL. Particularly, the processor 20 c isconfigured to determine, in response to the detection result, a URL,from which the media content can be received and the positioninformation indicating a position in the media content before or atwhich the connection to the server was terminated.

Although some aspects have been described in the context of anapparatus, it is clear that these aspects also represent a descriptionof the corresponding method, where a block or device corresponds to amethod step or a feature of a method step. Analogously, aspectsdescribed in the context of a method step also represent a descriptionof a corresponding block or item or feature of a correspondingapparatus.

Depending on certain implementation requirements, embodiments of theinvention can be implemented in hardware or in software. Theimplementation can be performed using a digital storage medium, forexample a floppy disk, a BD, DVD, a CD, a ROM, a PROM, an EPROM, anEEPROM or a FLASH memory, having electronically readable control signalsstored thereon, which cooperate (or are capable of cooperating) with aprogrammable computer system such that the respective method isperformed.

Some embodiments according to the invention comprise a non-transitorydata carrier having electronically readable control signals, which arecapable of cooperating with a programmable computer system, such thatone of the methods described herein is performed.

Generally, embodiments of the present invention can be implemented as acomputer program product with a program code, the program code beingoperative for performing one of the methods when the computer programproduct runs on a computer. The program code may for example be storedon a machine readable carrier.

Other embodiments comprise the computer program for performing one ofthe methods described herein, stored on a machine readable carrier.

In other words, an embodiment of the inventive method is, therefore, acomputer program having a program code for performing one of the methodsdescribed herein, when the computer program runs on a computer.

A further embodiment of the inventive methods is, therefore, a datacarrier (or a digital storage medium, or a computer-readable medium)comprising, recorded thereon, the computer program for performing one ofthe methods described herein.

A further embodiment of the inventive method is, therefore, a datastream or a sequence of signals representing the computer program forperforming one of the methods described herein. The data stream or thesequence of signals may for example be configured to be transferred viaa data communication connection, for example via the Internet.

A further embodiment comprises a processing means, for example acomputer, or a programmable logic device, configured to or adapted toperform one of the methods described herein.

A further embodiment comprises a computer having installed thereon thecomputer program for performing one of the methods described herein.

In some embodiments, a programmable logic device (for example a fieldprogrammable gate array) may be used to perform some or all of thefunctionalities of the methods described herein. In some embodiments, afield programmable gate array may cooperate with a microprocessor inorder to perform one of the methods described herein. Generally, themethods are preferably performed by any hardware apparatus.

The above described embodiments are merely illustrative for theprinciples of the present invention. It is understood that modificationsand variations of the arrangements and the details described herein willbe apparent to others skilled in the art. It is the intent, therefore,to be limited only by the scope of the impending patent claims and notby the specific details presented by way of description and explanationof the embodiments herein.

The invention claimed is:
 1. Client device for playing media content,comprising: a connection interface configured for establishing aconnection with a server and for receiving a media content from theserver via the connection, in which the connection interface isconfigured as a small distance wireless connection interface; a detectorconfigured for detecting, whether playing of the media content is to becontinued beyond a termination of the connection with the server, andconfigured for providing a detection result in case it is determinedthat the playing of the media content is to be continued beyond thetermination of the connection with the server; a large distance wirelessconnection interface configured for establishing a connection to theInternet; and a processor configured for taking an action to continuethe playing of the media content by the client device beyond thetermination of the connection with the server, in response to thedetection result, wherein the processor is configured, to activate, asthe action, the large distance wireless connection interface in responseto an indication that the user has actuated a continue playing facility,and to connect to a server associated with a uniform resource locator(URL) and to download a remaining portion of the media content or tostream a remaining portion of the media content using a positioninformation, wherein the processor is further configured to determinethe uniform resource locator, from which the media content can bereceived, and to determine the position information indicating aposition in the media content before or at which the connection to theserver was terminated, and wherein at least one of the connectioninterface, the detector and the processor comprises a hardwareimplementation.
 2. Client device of claim 1, wherein the detectorcomprises a user interface having a continue playing input facility; andwherein the detector is configured to provide the detection result, whenthe user has activated the continue playing input facility.
 3. Clientdevice of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to take theaction in response to the detection result without a user input, and tonotify the user by an output signal that the connection is terminated,and that the action has been taken, the output signal comprising anoptical display signal, a vibration signal or an acoustic signal. 4.Client device of claim 1, wherein the media stream is originating from asource and a connection to the source is in accordance with a firstconnection standard, wherein the processor is configured to connect to adatabase comprising different source identifications and associatedaddresses of the same source providing the media content via a differentconnection standard, to access the database to retrieve the address ofthe same source providing the media content via the differentcommunication standard, and to connect to the source having the addressusing the different communication standard.
 5. Client device of claim 4,wherein the first connection standard is a digital video broadcastingconnection standard to obtain a certain broadcast program, and whereinthe second connection standard is an Internet protocol connectionstandard to obtain the same broadcast program via the Internet. 6.Client device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the processor isfurthermore configured to establish a connection with the server via theconnection interface, to receive a streamed content from the server, torender the streamed content via an output interface comprising audio orvideo replay facilities, to activate a continue playing button on theclient device as soon as the processor has detected a quality decreaseof the connection with the server by a predefined amount, and to connectto a different source for the media content in response to a userindication that the user has activated the continue playing button. 7.Client device in accordance with claim 1, in which the processor isconfigured to perform at least one action of the following set ofactions to continue the media content, the set of actions comprising:determining a position in the media content at or before the detectionresult is provided, and downloading the media content from the serverand storing the downloaded content on the client device starting fromthe position in the media content indicated by the position information;determining a position in the media content at or before the detectionresult is provided, wherein the media content is a predefined playlistcomprising a sequence of media items, downloading a remaining portion ofa current media item or additionally one or more additional items in thesequence of media contents either in response to a predefined setting orin response to an user input regarding a number of additional items;determining a position in the media content at or before the detectionresult is provided, starting a connection to an Internet server by theclient device from the position in the stream; determining a position inthe media content at or before the detection result is provided,searching a media database stored in a local storage of the clientdevice, and resuming playback at the position from the media databasestored in the local storage of the client device; and setting a bookmarkat a position in the media content at or before the detection result isprovided, connecting to a different remote source of the media content,and receiving from the different remote source a media content using thebookmark.
 8. Client device of claim 1, in which the processor isconfigured for replaying the media content until an end of the mediacontent and for deleting the content on the client device, when the endof the media content is fully replayed without any user interaction. 9.Client device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to store abookmark at a termination of the connection or when the processor hasreceived an indication that the user has actuated a continue playinginput facility, and wherein the processor is configured to resumeplaying back the media content at the bookmark, when a connection to thesame server is established at a later time.
 10. Client device inaccordance with claim 1, wherein the server is a distributed playbackserver, wherein the processor is configured to replay the media contentin synchrony with at least one other client device under a control ofthe distributed playback server, and wherein the processor is configuredto replay the media content subsequent to taking the action in anautonomous way without being synchronized with the at least one otherclient device.
 11. Client device of claim 1, wherein the processor isconfigured to take the action under control of the detector without anyuser interaction, wherein the processor is configured to display oractivate a continue playing button on the client device, when theprocessor has established a connection to a different source of themedia content and is in the position to replay the media content beyondthe termination of the connection, and wherein the processor isconfigured to not display or not activate the continue playing button,when the processor, although having taken the action is not in theposition to replay the media content beyond the termination of theconnection.
 12. Method of operating a client device for playing mediacontent, the client device comprising a connection interface, adetector, and a processor, comprising: establishing, by the connectioninterface, a connection with a server and receiving a media content fromthe server via the connection, in which the connection interface isconfigured as a small distance wireless connection interface; detecting,by the detector, whether playing of the media content is to be continuedbeyond a termination of the connection with the server, and providing adetection result in case it is determined that the playing of the mediacontent is to be continued beyond the termination of the connection withthe server; establishing, by a large distance wireless connectioninterface, a connection to the Internet; and taking an action, by theprocessor, to continue the playing of the media content by the clientdevice beyond the termination of the connection with the server inresponse to the detection result, wherein the processor is configured,to activate, as the action, the large distance wireless connectioninterface in response to an indication that the user has actuated acontinue playing facility, and to connect to a server associated with auniform resource locator (URL) and to download a remaining portion ofthe media content or to stream a remaining portion of the media contentusing a position information, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to determine the uniform resource locator, from which themedia content can be received, and to determine the position informationindicating a position in the media content before or at which theconnection to the server was terminated, and wherein at least one of theconnection interface, the detector and the processor comprises ahardware implementation.
 13. A non-transitory storage medium havingstored thereon a computer program comprising a program code forperforming a method of operating a client device, the method comprising:establishing, by the connection interface, a connection with a serverand receiving a media content from the server via the connection, inwhich the connection interface is configured as a small distancewireless connection interface; detecting, by the detector, whetherplaying of the media content is to be continued beyond a termination ofthe connection with the server, and providing a detection result in caseit is determined that the playing of the media content is to becontinued beyond the termination of the connection with the server;establishing, by a large distance wireless connection interface, aconnection to the Internet; and taking an action, by the processor, tocontinue the playing of the media content by the client device beyondthe termination of the connection with the server in response to thedetection result, wherein the processor is configured, to activate, asthe action, the large distance wireless connection interface in responseto an indication that the user has actuated a continue playing facility,and to connect to a server associated with a uniform resource locator(URL) and to download a remaining portion of the media content or tostream a remaining portion of the media content using a positioninformation, wherein the processor is further configured to determinethe uniform resource locator, from which the media content can bereceived, and to determine the position information indicating aposition in the media content before or at which the connection to theserver was terminated.